The growth of streaming platforms such as Amazon Instant, Hulu, and Netflix is one that is providing viewers with more options than ever before when it comes to consuming content, the only potential downside for those with access possibly being that the industry is losing a little of its tradition, but those that think that and also dislike the Rupert Murdoch media empire may rethink the first point a little.

The 84-year-old leader of News Corp./21st Century Fox, who run well-known TV brands such as Fox and Sky along with many news publications, has spoken out about his company’s need to launch a competitor to the likes of Amazon and Netflix in order to get back parts of the market lost.

Speaking at a the Wall Street Journal’s WSK.D technology conference in Laguna Beach (USA) on Wednesday (29 October), Murdoch called on ‘the industry’, presumably everyone not yet on-board with a service of this on-demand streaming thing, to unite and provide a challenge on broadband.

He noted: “As an industry, we need a competitor – a serious competitor – to Netflix and Amazon. I think we’re all on the same page.”

Speaking of HBO’s decision to launch a dedicated stand-alone online subscription service to consumers, he said of what he believed their targets are at present: “They don’t want to get into conflict with them [the cable companies that host the HBO network], so they’re really only aiming at the moment at the 10 million people who don’t get cable.”

He summarised of how that could have been him in charge of HBO’s operations, by way of purchasing parent company Time Warner, in what eventually amounted to a failed bid: “We felt that we needed more critical mass and content and this was a wonderful marriage and fit.”

Murdoch also noted that News Corp. could have been in the streaming game ahead of every other major competitor, noting that their purchase of social media site MySpace (bought for $580m in July 2005, but sold in 2011 for $35m after what Murdoch claimed to be a series of management mistakes, preventing them from realising a video service, one which he claims was in development three months prior to YouTube’s launch.

And it is fortunate it panned out that way, otherwise the whole internet could have had to treat Murdoch with this level of respect:

The long-reigning holder of this crown, it appears as though the Game of Thrones cannot shake it off no matter what they try, with news that the HBO fantasy drama is once more the show to beat when it comes to having its content pirated more than any other programme.

It is claimed by online activity research specialists Semetric in a new report that the show is still receiving around 300,000 separate downloads each day, even at a point where the fourth season finale was premeired two months ago.

Having held the top spot through 2012and 2013as well, the Wall Street Journal claim that Game of Thrones‘ peak in the piracy game was being downloaded more often than all music downloads on BitTorrent, and representing over half of all TV show-related download activity.

Meanwhile, in true Netflix fashion, the report from Semetric also came up with the different shows that Game of Thrones fans ‘may also like’ based on the trail of their illegitimacy. It was noted that amongst Game of Thrones downloaders’ favourite other shows to pirate were fellow cable shows Black Sails (the aptly-named series broadcast on Starz), Vikings (History), The Walking Dead (AMC), and Archer (FX).

Movies that Game of Thrones fans were particularly partial to online included Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Ender’s Game, and Knights of Badassdom, although in both statistics it could be argued that their effectiveness as a study into Game of Thrones fans’ preferences is diminished considering the earlier fact that they are a large proportion of the site’s userbase.

Away from the ‘market leader’, it was found that in terms of overall downloads, movies were still the most popular format to take a questionable download of (40%), although not too far ahead of TV shows (29%), whilst PC video games (14%) and eBooks (5%) were the other biggest entertainment mediums in this measurement, ‘other’ in this instance naturally being the remaining 12%.

But within those statistics, there is one show that cannot seem to help but be the most dominant. Is it a positive note for them based on high quality and interest, or a negative that those downloaders in all likelyhood aren’t contracted to HBO? The latter theory must really get their goat…

Squrl, known to iOS users as a powerful video searching app, has updated the platform to now include live video-streaming capabilities. Users of iPad’s and iPhone’s can now watch live streaming video alongside their favorite video clips from the net. The lineup of live feeds includes content from Huffington Post Live, Press TV and This Week in Tech from Twit Live.

Squrl app adds live TV

Users will find the live video channels under the “Live” tab within the apps main menu. Other networks that are part of the “Live” tab include Bloomberg TV and Russia Today along with popular favorites like NASA TV, The Young Turks Live, and Al Jazeera. The new feature adds to Squrl’s already personalized experience.

The Live streaming tab will be further customized by featuring hand-curated content which will include coverage of breaking news events. Last month, while the Live feature was still in beta, the app provided users with access to live video streams of Hurricane Sandy coverage. The content was provided by New York’s News 4. During the Presidential election, Squrl’s Live page featured content from ABC, CBS and the Wall Street Journal.

Due to Squrl’s deep personalization features, which allow users to search for content with genre-interest category system, the app has a high average session time. Most users use the app for upwards of an hour, as they consume content that they are interested in due to the apps systematic way of presenting content to the user.

In addition to having genre categories, like Comedy, Entertainment, and Technology, the app also pulls content from a variety of sources. A “What’s Hot” channel gives users a chance to see video clips as they begin to go viral–and now with the new “Live” channel feature, Squrl is one step closer to creating the quintessential iOS video-streaming app.